Year in Review: HGTV To Air Kalamazoo Builder's Pilot in Early '19

Kalamazoo builder Jeremy Cole, host of "Gritty to Pretty," and high-school friend and filmmaker Stan Steppes, who serves as an associate producer on the show pilot.

Credit Earlene McMichael | WMUK

On Dec. 27, WMUK replayed our interview with Kalamazoo builder Jeremy Cole on the WestSouthwest news and public affairs show. HGTV is expected to air a pilot about his efforts to rehab vacant homes. It originally aired July 23, 2018.

Kalamazoo builder Jeremy Cole is addressing the dearth of affordable housing by rehabbing one dilapidated, vacant home at a time in Kalamazoo County, and now he's slated to get a pilot on HGTV. The new projected air date is by February 2019, said Stan Steppes, an associate producer on the "Gritty to Pretty" show. Cole, a Western Michigan University alum, came to national attention after Steppes, a friend from Kalamazoo Central High School and a local filmmaker, became intrigued by the before-and-after photos and videos that Cole would post on Facebook about his projects. Steppes created a YouTube series featuring Cole's handiwork, which Steppes posted on social media and tagged a Michigan film production company. The company liked what it saw and then contacted the pair to start filming a cable television pilot.

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This is a story of when the power of social media meets the desire to do good. Jeremy Cole, 32, rescues dilapated homes in Kalamazoo County. He'd post before-and-after pictures on Facebook. One day, the licensed builder shared a light-hearted video about his restoration work. Stanley Steppes, a local independent filmmaker with whom Cole attended Kalamazoo Central High School, saw it and convinced Cole to let him do a YouTube series on him. A Detroit film production company executive was "tagged," liked it, and dreamed even bigger. His firm turned it into a show for the DIY network. Now HGTV is giving "Gritty to Pretty" a trial run this fall.

For 13 years, Pat Maye's job at the Fair Housing Center of Southwest Michigan was to educate the public, including Realtors and landlords, about federal housing discrimination laws. The issue was deeply personal: She says she, herself, had been discriminated against in the city of Kalamazoo.